The Ring goes to Italy!
by Odeena Sabnach
Summary: Reality-inspired fanfic from my own trip to Italy... I believe the title is self-explaining. Please R&R!
1. Prologue

**_Disclaimer: _**_Tolkien's characters, my insanity, this is what came out._

**_Author's Note: _**_This fanfic is somewhat reality-inspired… I hope you like it. So please read & review!_

**_Extra Note: _**_No members of the Fellowship were harmed during the writing of this fanfic._

**_Boromir's Addenda: _**_Well, not physically, anyway… insert hints about permanent brain damage here_

**_The Ring goes to Italy!_**

****

**Prologue…**

When my headmistress called to tell me that I was due to leave for Italy in one week, my first reaction was to scream my lungs out. I screamed so loud that I scared half the neighbourhood, broke several windows and nearly gave Boromir a heart attack. My second reaction was to hug the closest thing alive that I could find, which incidentally turned out to be Legolas. Still in shock after my first reaction, the elf opposed little resistance, but when he began to struggle and say something about his kidneys being squashed I had to let him go. 

Then, a serious issue popped up. If I were to leave, what would I do with the Fellowship? I couldn't leave them at home, but I sure as hell couldn't take them with me, either. In doubt, I decided to refer to the one person that gave me good advice every time I had to make a hard decision…

… Boromir.

"Take us with you!" he said, even before I finished.

…Well, that was not exactly the answer I had looked forward to, so I went to Gandalf. Seeing as he was both wise and powerful (or wait… was that Saruman?), I had no doubt that he would give me the right answer.

"Take us with you!" he said, after patiently listening to my argument.

Still in doubt, I went to Elrond.

"The answer is quite simple", he said, doing his wild eyebrow dance thingy. "Take us with you."

…And so, I had no choice but to take them with me.

I knew I was going to regret this…


	2. Dissensions

**The Ring goes to Italy!**

**by Odeena Skywalker**

Chapter 1: Dissensions

The bus to Italy was supposed to pick us up from my hourse at seven thirty in the morning. With great difficulty and the combined efforts of Boromir's good looks, Gandalf's diplomacy and Bilbo Baggins' very generous money supply, we had managed to obtain tickets for everyone, except for Gandalf, who was coming along riding an eagle (no surprise there), and Saruman, who had convinced Angmar the Witch King to lend him one of those flying thingies that Nazgul usually ride.

The night before the departure was chaos from dusk 'til dawn. Nobody slept a wink - well, except for Sam, who was able to sleep virtually anywhere, and Gollum, who had confused my mother's sleeping-pills with candy and had fallen asleep shortly before nine PM. With everyone packing, the house was a mess, and lines like 'Have you seen my gold-embroidered slippers with purple laces and two large diamonds in front?' (said by a desperate-looking Arwen), 'Who the heck ate all my lembas bread?' (snarled by a very annoyed Haldir, glaring at the snoring Samwise Gamgee) or 'My shoe! My shoe! My kingdom for my shoe!' - 'Oh give it a rest already, will you? It's _my_ kingdom, thank you very much!' (a short altercation between Boromir and a slightly drunk Aragorn) were things of the ordinary. Finally, after everything was settled, we piled up our luggage on the sidewalk in front of my house, drank a huge mug of coffee each, and began our (supposedly) short wait.

I thought it necessary to give everybody a little speech. Not that I was good at it. On the contrary. 'Now listen here', I said, once things settled down a little. 'I'm supposed to be on a very serious school assignment - ' a few guys snickered, and I glared daggers at them before resuming ' - so don't do anything which could embarass me, or I'll make sure that I'll embarass you with the most embarassing fanfic ever to be written in the history of embarassing fanfics. Is that understood?'

'Well, that was... eloquent', Boromir said, patting me on the back, while the others all stated their assentment.

'Thanks', I said, gritting my teeth, a thing which Boromir hardly seemed to notice. Then, nobody said anything else. But as soon as the bus arrived, problems began to pop up one by one.

'You have too much luggage', the bus driver - a middle-aged old man in a worn-out blue uniform - said after taking a glance at the pile-up on the sidewalk.

'Arwen packed up half the house', Boromir hissed to Legolas, rolling his eyes, which earned him a noogie from Aragorn.

'Yeah, I bet half of that stuff consists of clothes and stuff', Pippin said excitedly. A second later, he ducked hurriedly behind Faramir as Arwen made a pretty scary at him.

'And the other half is most definitely make-up', I finished, rising an eyebrow at Arwen. 'Right?'

Arwen shifted her foot. 'Well... y'know, a girl has to look good and everything...'

'Oh for crying out loud!'

'Enough of this', Gandalf interjected placidly just as I was about to burst out. Waving his staff, he said a few words in Elvish, and the luggage seemed to disappear into thin air. However, on a closer look, I saw that it had been reduced to a little red gem, which Gandalf calmly inserted into his pocket.

'Don't worry', he said as the others looked on the verge of starting a riot, Arwen especially. 'I will give these back to you as soon as we get there. Or would one of you rather carry it?'

By the time, the driver had recovered himself enough to blurt out, 'We must be on our way - we're behind schedule already.'

'Well, you heard the man', I roared, glad that the problem had been sorted out. The other two kids on the project group were already shooting inquiring glances at us through the bus windows, and my teacher was on the stair of the bus and looked ready to bite. I knew that this was a bad omen. Big time. 'Move!' Reluctantly, the Fellowship obeyed and quietly took their seats in the back of the bus, while I went up front and joined my good friend and colleague Lisa.

'Hi girl', she greeted me in that over-excited manner of hers that made her so annoying at times. 'How's life? Oh, and by the way, how come you got the entire cast of Lord of the Rings with you?'

'Ssh!' I said hurriedly as my teacher approached. 'Don't breathe a word of this to anyone', I added in a whisper. 'It's a long story...'

'Have you got your passport?' my teacher inquired sternly.

'Yes ma'am.'

'And your friends?'

'Yes ma'am.' It was safest this way. Don't address the teacher unless asked, and always keep your side of the conversation to the minimum level possible.

'Good.' And with that, my teacher returned to her seat.

I sighed. 'Believe me', I said to Lisa, who was already throwing avid glances backwards towards Aragorn, 'these guys are more trouble than they're worth.' A loud scream, folowed by a hiss and another scream, seemed to emphasize my words. 'Keep it quiet back there!' I shouted, only to sink back in my chair as the other passangers looked at me with positively horrified faces. I have a pretty sharp voice when I yell.

'Why's there a guy on an eagle flying above us?' Rhett, the other guy in the group, asked a few minutes later, just as I was starting to cool down.

Indeed, through the open hatchet of the bus roof, Gandalf's form was clearly visible. I bit my lip. 'You're seeing things', I said, doing my best to keep my cool. 'Go to sleep.'

'Fine.' Rhett snorted, and then turned his back on us, pretending to be hurt. I couldn't care less. I glanced behind to make sure everything was OK, and then I settled to watching the landscape. Lisa was already plunged into the pages of her copy of _Silmarillion_, or at least pretended to, although she kept looking behind every thirty seconds or so. I rolled my eyes. This was bad news...

_Author's note: Well, here it is! The second chapter! Sorry it took me so long - I've been busy with my other three stories (Fellowship of the Fanfic Writers, The Unforeseen and LoK: Lifestyle) to begin with, and then I had my school exams to attend (school's evil), and... takes out a huge list of excuses. Anyway, I hope you liked the chap! If you did, please review! Thank you! And thanks for those who already reviewed are as follows:_

_**Breck**_: Thank you! So you want plenty of Boromir refferences... Okay! :)

_**ApocalypticPyro**_: You bet I'll keep it up! Thanks! :)

_**Omega XSabre**_: Geez, I guess they wanted to come with me... or something... :)

_**midnitest4rz**_: Don't worry, I will continue it... glad you like it so much !:)


	3. Trouble already!

**The Ring goes to Italy!**

**by Odeena Skywalker**

Chapter 2: Trouble... (already?!)

Although I had been literally counting the seconds until leaving, about half an hour after our departure I came to realize that what I had dreamed of as the adventure of a lifetime was in fact boring as hell. With Lisa too deeply engaged in reading _Silmarillion_ and Rhett snoring with his head leaning against my shoulder (thank the Valar he wasn't drooling, like my little sister usually does), there was nothing much that I could do except look out the window. And a trip through the south-western part of the country is the dictionary definition of dull.

Just as I was starting to doze off, I felt someone shake my shoulder. "_What_?" I groaned, putting on my best 'I'm-gonna-bite-you' look. BIG mistake. A second later, I found myself looking - no, _staring_ with my jaw hanging - at a _very_ pissed-off-looking teacher. "Uh, I mean, what is it? ...Ma'am?", I added, remembering all-too-late about politeness and everything.

"Do your friends have their passports?"

'Duh', I thought. 'Otherwise, how the heck would they be coming alone?' "Yes, ma'am", I answered aloud.

"Go and gather them. We should reach the customs soon."

"Thank goodness", I sighed under my breath.

I got up, apologized to Rhett for having woken him up (although I could have bet anything in the world that he hadn't been sleeping after all... I was beginning to suspect he was suffering from the 'Paul' syndrom - i.e., the 'Hopelessly-in-love-with-Odeena' syndrom), and made my way to the back of the bus.

I must say, the guys were handling the trip rather well. Okay, except for Arwen, who had already used up half of Sam's stock of paper bags (you can imagine what for) and Haldir, who had the misfortune of sitting next to her.

"Why, hello there!" Boromir greeted me in his enthusiastic manner. "How's it going?"

"Um... good...", I said. "Listen, we're gonna hit the customs any minute now, so I need all your passports."

"Okay", came the answer, and Boromir handled me his passport.

"Don't look at the picture", Faramir whispered confidentially. "It'll give you a heart attack."

I chuckled. "And the rest of you...?"

"Will they give it back, precious?" Gollum asked, looking even more miserable than usual.

"Well... yeah..."

"Good." He kissed his passport goodbye (eww!) and handled it to me. "Takes good care of it!" he whimpered. "He is my life... my life... my... preciousss..."

"Get a life!" someone shouted from behind. I agreed with him completely.

"My passport is in my bag", Legolas said.

"Mine too."

"And mine."

"And mine as well."

Uh-oh.

Least you recall, all the bags had been turned into a single gem, which was now resting comfortably in Gandalf's pocket. This was _not_ good. Fortunately, just then a loud 'boom' came from somewhere behind me, and the bus jerked to a halt, throwing me on the floor face-first.

"Ow", I said, although my voice was largely muffled by the carpet thingy that was on the floor.

Being the gentleman he is (most of the times), Boromir rushed to help me up. The other passengers were largely confused, and some were even panicked. Gollum, for instance, was screaming some nonsense about an invasion of the Uruk-Hai and was cowering under Haldir's chair, while a hysterical-looking Arwen kept demanding what's going on.

"Not to worry, folks" - that was the driver, speaking on the microphone - "we just have a flat tire."

"Oh, joy", Gimli groaned. "Now we're gonna be stuck here for an age."

"I'll say..." Suddenly, an idea popped up in my head. Pretending that I had to take Arwen outside for some fresh air, I beckoned Gandalf to come down and retrieved everyone's passports from the gem. As everyone got out to stretch their limbs and wait for the flat tire problem to be solved, Saruman flied overhead on his Nazgul-dragon-thingy and waved at us enthusiastically. I shook my fist in reply. This was definitely _not_ my definition of keeping a low profile, as I had told him to do.

About half an hour later, with the tire changed, the guys refreshed and Boromir sulking with a fresh brown eye (courtesy of Aragorn, of course... the usual 'It's-my-kingdom-not-yours' thingy...), we set off again. Another half an hour later, we entered the customs. A refreshing drink, a luggage check and some fussing about Arwen's passport (for some strange reason, her hair was red in the photo) after, we crossed the border. Finally, ten minutes after, we were entering the proud state of Hungary.

"Finally", I sighed, leaning back in my seat and closing my eyes. "Now, I can die happy..."

"Why would you want to die?" an old lady in the seat behind our asked, glaring at me over her spectacles. "You're so young..."

I coughed and pretended not to have heard her. Old ladies can get really chatty, and I was not in the mood for a conversation where every topic started invariably with 'In my time...' Instead, I leaned my head on Rhett's shoulder - and I'm sure he blushed a little... poor guy... - and shortly after I fell asleep.

We had about thirty-two hours to go...

_Author's note: Chapter three up! I'm having a lot of fun writing this, because I'm practically reliving my whole trip to Italy! :) I hope you liked it. More coming soon! Please R&R! (And please excuse the unusual abundance of question marks!) Thanks for reviewing go to:_

_**Filia Regalis: **Yup, Faramir is going on the trip, too. You wanna be there as well? Hmm... how about a random bus person? Or fangirl? ...but you'll have to give me a real number to work with, since this is a reality-inspired fanfic..._

_**Omega XSabre: **Well, I don't have any bludgeoning instrument with me. I do have, however, my Pen of Doom :)... And about your story, I wanna go out with Raz because nobody seems to like him much... and he's too cute! (yeah, yeah, I'm weird, I know...) But I still like Rahab best! :)_

_**ApocalypticPyro: **Okay, I won't forget our fic! I'm working on it now... :)_


	4. Fangirls attack

**The Ring goes to Italy!**

**by Odeena Skywalker**

Chapter 3: Fangirls attack

"Odeena...?"

I stuck out my tongue at whoever was disturbing me and snarled, "Go away." And I did all this without even opening my eyes. I can say it had become some sort of a reflex.

"Wake up! Gollum fell off the bus!"

"What?" I jerked up, forgetting all about sleep, and glared at Boromir. "Uh... please tell me this is a sick joke of yours", I pleaded, rubbing my temples. "Otherwise, I'm going to flay you and hang you by your toes from the heights of--"

Boromir coughed. "Well, actually it _was _a joke. Bue hey, are we there yet?"

I cocked an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me you woke me up just to ask me if we're there yet?"

He nodded, looking utterly abashed, "Yep."

I sighed. At the moment, I felt an almost irresistible urge to punch him in the face and wile that (...cute?) smile off of it. Then again, that would have meant getting past Rhett, who was snoring lightly, and Lisa, who was still reading her _Silmarillion_ and not paying any attention to the rest of the world, and probably attracting a lot of unwanted attention. "Go away", I repeated instead. "I want to sleep."

"The guys in the back are getting restless", Boromir pleaded. "What should I tell them?"

"That no, we're not there yet, and no, we won't be there for another..." I checked my watch "...twenty-three hours and a half."

Boromir pouted. "I'm not telling them _that_."

I sighed, "Why not?"

"Because they'll tear me limb from limb if they hear it from me."

I rolled my eyes. "You aren't going to just be a good man of Gondor and go back to your seat, are you?" I asked.

He shook his head, "Nope."

"Fine..." I got up, apologized (again) to Rhett and Lisa, and quietly made my way to the back of the buss. As soon as the others saw me, questions and complains began to pour.

"Are we there yet?"

"Arwen stole my lipstick!"

"Excuse me... there's a random person named Sarah who took hold of my hand and won't let go... Help?"

"My hand hurts from signing so many autographs... Is there a copy machine around?"

"I want to sleep and Gollum won't let me!"

"Are - we - there - yet - ack! Get off! gasp Help!"

In case you haven't realized it yet, here's what was happening. Most of the male half of the group - namely, Aragorn, Haldir, Faramir and Frodo - were under assault by fangirls. Aragorn was the one signing too many autographs, as he was surrounded by at least five or six fangirls. A slim, brown-eyed girl had made herself comfortable in Faramir's lap and didn't show any signs that she would move for the world. Another girl had taken hold of Haldir's hand and held tight to it, while the poor elf struggled in vain to get loose. As for Frodo, he was also signing autographs, but he seemed to rather enjoy it.

"Okay... where should I start?" I ran a hand through my hair. Good Gods, why me...? "First of all - no, we're not there yet, and we're not going to be there for another twenty-three hours." I ignored the chorus of sighs and protests and went on. "Eowyn, it's not my fault if you can't guard your stuff properly. Wait... since when do you use lipstick?" Eowyn just shrugged. "Gollum, leave Sam alone. As for the rest of you... well, what can I say? Be nice to the girls. They are, after all, your devoted fans. And..." I looked around. "Where's Legolas?"

"Shut off in the toilet", Boromir answered in a whisper. "He couldn't take it any more..."

Poor elf. For a second, I thought of asking him to come up front with me, but then I remembered Lisa's obsession with Lord of the Rings and dismissed the idea.

"Well, good luck to all of you!" I said with a shrug. "And remember to behave!" Again, I ignored the avalanche of moans and begs for help and returned to my seat.

"What was that all about?" Lisa whispered in my ear.

"Oh, nothing", I said casually. "The guys are under attack by the crazy fangirls association.

"Really?" She stood up. "I'm going to save them!" she whispered hurriedly, and then she made her way quickly to the back of the bus."

I shrugged again. If that's the way she wanted it...

Once again, I leaned my head on Rhett's shoulder and fell asleep.

_Author's note: Well, here it is! The second chapter! Sorry it took me so long - I've been busy with my other three stories (Fellowship of the Fanfic Writers, The Unforeseen and LoK: Lifestyle) to begin with, and then I had my school exams to attend (school's evil), and... takes out a huge list of excuses. Anyway, I hope you liked the chap! If you did, please review! Thank you! And thanks for those who already reviewed are as follows:_

_**BullHeadedMoron: **As you probably read alredy - wish granted!_

_**ApocalypticPyro: **You know, the character Rhett is reality-inspired. __There's this guy in my class whose name also starts with 'R' who's hopelessly in love with me, though I have no idea why... shrug_

_**Mercury Gray: **Again, wish granted! Although you'll have to deal with the angry mob of Faramir fangirls on your own, I'm afraid... grin When I went to Italy, the route was Romania (home sweet home) Hungary Austria Italy. We couldn't go through Yugoslavia because it was (and still is) a little unsafe..._

_**Breck: **Thanks!_

_**Filia Regalis: **All righty - in the next chapter, you'll be a fangirl who... wait, I don't want to spoil the surprise now, do I? :) Just you wait... wink _

_**frodofreak88: **Umm... I'd say it's everyone (and when I say that, I mean every main character in LotR). _

_**Neniriel: **Of course I'll write more! I just write very slow there days because I've got a lot of work to do. I think getting a part-time job was not exactly the brightest idea I had this summer... :)_

_**Omega XSabre: **Well, I read what you wrote in your story, and I got a general 'Wow' impression. You're good at randomness! ;)_


	5. Midnight mischief

**The Ring goes to Italy!**

**by Odeena Skywalker**

Chapter 4: Midnight mischief

When I woke up, it was quiet. _Too_ quiet. Something wasn't right here; this was too good to be true. I cracked one eye, and then the other. It took me a few minutes to realize where I was and why I was there. Yup... still on the bus, still on our way to Italy. So far, so good. But, like I said, it was unnaturally quiet... I looked around.

Everyone seemed to be sleeping, and for a moment I suspected that Gandalf or Saruman had worked some sort of spell in order to create mischief. They were both good at it, the old devils.

I nudged Lisa's shoulder lightly. No response. I tried again. Finally, she muttered something, stuck her tongue out at me without even opening her eyes and then went back to sleep. That was typical of her,

I cast a quick glance to the back of the bus. There were no signs of activity coming from there; apparently, the Fellowship were sleeping eacefully as well. All in all, it seemed that I was the only person awake in the entire bus! Well, save for the driver, of course, but he didn't count. Hmm... This gave me an idea. I got up as quietly as I could, careful not to wake up either Lisa or Rhett, although this precaution seemed utterly unnecessary. Then, I reached for my rucksack and took out my digi-cam. These were going to be some photos to remember! Silently, I made my way to where the guys were.

Snap! Arwen and Eowyn, huddled together and sleeping peacefully, Arwen's head resting on her arch enemy's shoulder. This would be something to blackmail them with later!

Snap! Gollum, curled up in Boromir's lap and sucking on his thumb like a baby hobbit.

Snap! Aragorn, nearly fallen out of his seat, his nose inches from Boromir's boot. Some king he was.

Snap! Gimli, muttering something about a balrog in his sleep and waving his hands frantically as if he were holding an axe.

I took many, many more photos, until my stupid camera ran out of batteries. I was just about to return to my seat, when the lights went on, and the bus came to a stop.

What followed was a sleepy chorus of moans, curses and half-coherent questions, which ended up abruptly as the driver announced that we had reached the customs between Hungary and Austria. This time, we passed without any inconvenience or delay, and in about half an hour things were back to the way they had been before.

I had taken the empty seat besides Legolas, next to the window. The elf seemed to be sleeping; but then again, you could never know for sure, since his kind usually slept with their eyes wide upen.

I sighed. There were about six hours to go until sunrise, and more than sixteen until we would finally reach the city of GIulianova, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea.

I shuddered. Suddenly, I felt cold, although I couldn't tell why. Immediately, I felt a hand reach for mine, and, looking to my right, I found myself staring at a slightly concerned-looking Legolas.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

I nodded. He didn't reply; instead, he put his left arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him.

"What are you doing?" I whispered.

"Come closer to me, it will keep you warm", he answered. And he was right. I felt warmer already.

"Fine, elf..." I muttered. "If you say so..." I nuzzled against his chest a little, finding a more comfortable position. Then, I fell asleep again.

_Author's note: Oh, Gosh, how long had it been? shudders Sorry again... Just so you know: I will not discontinue this story (or any of my stories, for that matter), but I will write terribly slow from now on, since real-life stuff is piling up again. Here are the review responses:_

_**midnitest4rz:** Thank you! By the way, are you from China? Just a question... if you don't want to, don't answer _

_**Kekelina:** Thanks! And Aragorn - err, I mean, Elessar says thanks, too _

_**shiny-chan: **Well, least you forgot (from 'Legolas and the Really Messed-Up Fanfic'), the elf and I were supposed to be together, so no fangirls for him insert evil smirk here. Besides, he doesn't like fangirls. Then again, who does? Except for Boromir, of course... Sorry about the spelling mistakes. It happnes, especially whe you type very fast and you're in a very dark room _

_**Filia Regalis: **Sorry you weren't in this chapter... but you'll be in the next chapter for sure! Promise, cross my heart and hope to kiss an orc or Gollum if I don't keep my word! eww! _

_**ApocalypticPyrp: **I guess he does... Yup, you can be a cameo in Italy. Under which name? Or do I get to pick it? Let me know (And about the Olympics bit: yup, Romania did really good... it was in the medals top 20, I think. But the States were first, from what I remember, so - congrats! )_

_**BearVsCris: **Well, I took down Lifestyle from , since they no longer allow stories in script-mode (JERKS!). Now, it's posted at , so you can go read it there _


	6. Austria

**The Ring goes to Italy!**

**by Odeena Skywalker**

Chapter 5: Austria

"Aww, aren't they sweet? Just look at them, the little lovebirds..."

I giggled in my sleep. This kind of lines always made me crack up, especially since many times I used to make fun of this kind of couples myself. I didn't like 'lovebirds' at all, partly because I found this kind of acting to be quite pathetic, and partly because - why not face it? - my love life had been in tatters for _way_ too long. Come to think of it, there wasn't much that could be referred to as my 'love life' at all. I mean, there was Paul - then, utter disappointment and hate for all men - then my rabid obsession with Boromir - and finally, Legolas. I still wasn't sure about how I felt for the elf though, and I was pretty certain he was equally confused.

"I'm betting they're having some pretty sweet dreams right now."

Although my mind was still mudded from sleep, the voice sounded slightly familiar. I perked my ears as much as I could. I had this vague feeling that something was horribly wrong, but simply I couldn't put my finger on it yet.

"...And I bet that half of the girls in the bus would like to be in her place."

_In whose place_? I thought sleepily as I shifted slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position. It was then that I realized I had apparently been sleeping with my head on someone else's shoulder. That someone was pretty slim, and must have had long hair, if I were to judge from the silky locks which tickled my nose whenever I breathed. He seemed very much like--

Oh no.

"Uh-oh... she's waking up..."

The other voices went quiet as my eyes snapped open. Turning my head slightly to the right, I found myself looking in the face of a pretty tired-looking elf, who blinked at me several times before attempting a shy smile.

"Good morning...?" he tried timidly.

"Good morning, elf", I replied. Then, I turned around as I heard chuckles behind me. Half of the Fellowship were looking - no, _staring_ at me, with big and curious eyes. I knew the rumors about me and the elf, and I'd done my best so far to make them seem unfounded. However, this was a different story. "What are _you_ looking at?" I muttered, sounding as annoyed as I could.

There was silence for a few moments, and then, a chorus of, "Nothing..." and "Just wanted to say good morning" followed. It took a while before Boromir spoke.

"Sorry to bother you and Elf-boy", he began, delicately choosing to ignore my 'I'm-going-to-kill' you glare, "but... well, it's morning, we're in the Alps, and I just thought you might enjoy taking a few snapshots of the mountains. They're great."

Well, Boromir was half right. Photographing was one of my dedicated hobbies, and I would've put him and all the others through hell if they would've let me sleep on. Still, I highly disliked the obvious glints of amusement and irony in their eyes as they looked at me with seemingly innocent faces. Seeing as the batteries of my camera were dead already, I'd probably have to borrow Boromir's camera... or Frodo's all-in-one 'digi-snap', as he proudly called his brand new HP digital camera. However, I was having serious doubts that the hobbit would give it away willingly, if only for a little while.

I sat up and stretched, ignoring the curious or envious glares from the other fangirls on the bus. "So, how long are we going to be here?" I asked Boromir, who seemed to be the most informed person in the entire group right now.

"About half an hour, I think. There are some problems with the bus, so--"

"Saruman messed up the engine so Merry could--" Pippin started, but got cut off abruptly as both Merry and Frodo elbowed him hard. However, it was too late.

"What was that?" I asked, my voice lowering down to a hiss.

Pippin shifted his foot. "Well... Saruman did it", he repeated, glaring sideways, "because Merry got bus-sick and we didn't have enough courage to go and talk to the driver without you. So Frodo told me to use my palantir and--OW!" Pippin squealed as Frodo stomped hard on his foot. "Would you quit that?"

"He has a vivid imagination, doesn't he?" Merry asked, grinning sheepishly.

"No I don't!" Pippin protested. "He - OUCH!"

As far as I was concerned, poor Pip was telling the truth, or else he wouldn't be taking all that punishment from the others. "Since when do you have a palantir?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"He nicked it from Gandalf the other day", Merry cut in, not wanting to miss a chance to get back at his cousin. "He used it to make Saruman prepare us a bowl of magical Froot Loops, and--"

Now it was Pippin's turn to stomp on Merry's foot, "Shut up."

I was just about to say something, when I heard a very familiar voice behind me, calling my name. I froze.

"Yes, Ma'am", I said hurriedly as I turned, finding myself looking up at my very annoyed-looking teacher.

"You will be staying with a miss Filia Regalis, who owns a villa in Giulianova. She will be waiting to pick you up at the bus station after we arrive. And please _do_ tell your friends not to make funny noises in the back as we go..." With that, she turned and left, and I glared again at the Fellowship.

"Funny noises...?" I asked warily.

"Well... just an innocent little burp never hurt anyone..." Boromir burped loudly to demonstrate. "See?"

I rolled my eyes. "You're incorrigible", I said. Then, I took my seat next to the elf and stubbornly refused to say anything else.

Soon enough, the bus started to move again, and shortly I forgot about everything else as I witnessed the beauty of the Austrian landscapes. After countless begs and pleas, I managed to make Frodo lend me his digi-snap. By the time we had quit the mountain road and entered Italy, I had taken over fifty photos. And, as the little indicator in the corner stated, there was still room for much more...

For one, I couldn't wait to see the Adriatic Sea.

_Author's Note: I have no idea what to write here this time, so... I've tried to update at least one of my stories once a week, and so far this system seems to be working OK, so I hope I'll be able not to keep all you guys waiting so long for a new chapter every time. Real-life is a major pain in the neck, so it's pretty hard finding some quiet time to write. But then again, I've been accused several times that I'm 'just a big whiner', so I'll stop complaining now and ask you once again to be patient and bear with me . As for the review responses..._

_**Filia Regalis **- As you can see, you are already present in this chapter, and starting next chapter you'll make your actual appearence. winks And you'll get several members of the Fellowship to stay at your villa as a bonus! _

_**Omega XSabre **- Yup. Thanks!_

_**shiny-chan** - Grammar used to be my number one enemy when in my early years of writing in English. I've kinda gotten over it now... :) Thanks for the review!_

_**ApocalypticPyro** - Your cameo is on it's way! Would it be OK if you were Filia Regalis' best friend or something like it? _

_**INMH - **Thanks! This story will continue... :)_

_**midnitest4rz - **Well, I am updating... not that soon... but updating nonetheless :P Hey, since you're Chinese, could you help me with one itty-bitty matter? I.e., how do you count in Chinese? (One to ten). It would be fab if you could tell me! And you will get a kiss from a random member of the Fellowship that you can pick yourself! _

_**necromancer / Hish** - Thanks! As for the dagger... grabs it and hides it under her pillow I'll make good use of this when the boogie-man comes tonight :D_

_**Kendria Erleine** - Thank you! _

_**Tameila - **Domo arigato goziemashita. (That's Japanese for 'Thank you very much' )._

_**Sarah** - I hope you didn't have to wait too much for this chapter... Thank you for your patiente!_


	7. The arrival

**The Ring goes to Italy!**

**by Odeena Skywalker**

Chapter 6: The Arrival

"Just one more hour to go..." Haldir grabbed a lock of his hair in his hands and twisted it in his fingers. "I'm bored", he stated, turning towards me. "Do something so I'll stop being bored."

"You'd think trading seats with Legolas would be enough to make you shut up..." I muttered in reply, not bothering to look at him. "You're sitting next to me, you have the window seat..."

"No hard feelings, I hope" he asked with mock concern.

"No, no hard feelings", I answered mechanically. "And "

"Psst! Know what I've been thinking"

I glared at Pippin, who had turned from his seat in front of mine and was now grinning at me. For some strange reason, thinking and this particular hobbit seemed to be a very unlikely combination. Then again, the Fellowship always found new ways to surprise me... Therefore, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and say something along the lines of, '_You_ were _ thinking_? Geez, that's a sign of the Apocalypse all right...'. Instead, I shrugged, at the same time putting on my best 'Go-away-you're-annoying-me' look. Pip didn't seem impressed.

"We're going to Italy, right"

Well, it wasn't like I hadn't said that at least fifty times since our departure. "No, Pippin, we're going to Mali", I answered, hoping that my tone of voice would discourage him and he would go away. As if I'd ever get that lucky...

"And they say Italians have the best food in the world, right? I mean, they've got pizza, and spaghetti, and chili, and "

"Wasn't chili supposed to be Mexican stuff" Boromir interjected from his seat in the back.

"No, it was Indonesian" Arwen cut in.

Faramir and Eowyn snickered in unison, and Boromir just shrugged. "I think it's Mexican..." he muttered, with the air of someone who knows when he's fighting a losing battle.

"Maybe they serve it in both countries", Aragorn mused, elbowing Boromir lightly at the same time. This caused Faramir's hand to fly to his mouth in a desperate attempt to stifle a giggle, while Eowyn burst out laughing.

"Should've known lover-boy's gonna spoil the fun..." Haldir muttered, shaking his fist at Aragorn. "You'd think good old Boromir would fight back or something..."

"He's saving himself for tonight", I answered.

Haldir's eyebrows flew up"How so"

"Well, as you know, I'm going to stay at some girl's place." I sighed"You can't expect me to take the lot of you guys with me, so I'll have to drop you at a hotel or something. Just picture what will happen when this bunch will be out of my sight..."

"When the master's away, the orcs will play", Haldir said philosophically. "Makes a much better saying than the original version, don't you think"

"If you say so..."

Silence.

"Okay... I'm bored again." Haldir was looking plain miserable now. "I know you're heard this a trillion time already, but are we there yet"

"Well.. not really."

"How much longer"

" I don't know"

"You said that the last time, too"

I glared at Haldir. "You know, for a roadie tags along, you sure are annoying as hell."

He winked"Thank you."

I was just about to answer to that; however, my teacher chose that exact moment to call me up front in her usual, dislikeable manner"Miss Skywalker, kindly do come up front, please"

"What did I do now..." I muttered as I obediently made my way to her seat.

"We are about to reach our destination. If you will be kind enough to give me five minutes of your precious time"

I hated it when she talked like that. I really, really did.

"You will have the rest of the day off, so you can sleep, wash or do whatever you like. Your host will come and pick you up on arrival, and..." She glared towards the back of the bus"I trust your friends will have a place to stay as well"

"They'll stay at a hotel", I said quickly.

"Well then, there it is. And - ah, look, we've arrived." As my teacher said the last words, the bus came to a sudden stop, and I was extremely close to crashing forward on the bus floor, face first. Thankfully, Rhett was there, and so I only crashed into him. I couldn't see his face, but I could tell that his face was turning red faster than a hobbit could eat a mushroom.

"Thanks", I muttered, stepping away from him. "I owe you one."

He looked away. His face still had its usual color; however, his ears were a bright red. I shrugged, and then made my way back to the Fellowship. "All right, you guys, listen up. Since I can't take you with me, you'll have to find a nice - and _cheap - _motel to stay at. And " I paused, noticing two girls who were waiting outside. One of them, who was holding a small sign that had "Odeena" written on it, saw me and waved. That must've been my host. " - _Behave_", I finished quickly. Then, I went back to my classmates and all three of us got off the bus.

The two girls that I mentioned earlier hastily made their way to me. "You must be Odeena, right" one of them inquired, grinning widely.

"The one and only", I answered with an equally wide smile. I held out my hand. "Pleased to meet you, miss "

"I'm Filia Regalis, this is Dar Sala-at, or Dar for short." Dar made a small reverence, while Filia continued"As you know, I'll be your host, and " Suddenly, her eyes went wide. "Is that Legolas" she gasped, looking somewhere behind me.

"Well..." I coughed and shifted my foot. "Yes, but "

"And that's Aragorn! And Boromir and Faramir are here, too" By now, several other people had noticed the Fellowship as well. "And those cute little hobbits! What are they doing here"

"They're with me", I answered quickly"and "

"Really? Are they going to stay at my place, too"

"I don't think you'd want that", I answered, rolling my eyes as the Fellowship were suddenly assaulted by fans demanding autographs, pecks, hugs and the like. "Besides, you couldn't fit them all under one roof..."

"I'll take some, too, if you don't mind", Dar cut in, elbowing me. "C'mon, don't be selfish, you have them with you all the time"

"Yes, but I assure you they're more trouble than they look like."

"I don't mind trouble", Filia said defiantly. "Come on - please"

She looked ready to fall on her knees and beg, as did Dar. I sighed. I knew I couldn't resist this kind of request. "Fine", I answered with a shrug. "I wash my hands of the whole matter... Just know that I won't be paying for any dumb thing they might - and surely will - do."

_Author's Note: (yawn) I gotta say, of all the people I know, I must be the only one that's writing at bloody five AM... For this chapter, I'd like to think my friend Kat for inspiration and support (if you call lines such as "Get off your lazy butt and _write_ something" support... (giggles) As always, I hope you liked this chapter! More to come! As for the review responses - _

_**Manwathiel** - Gracias! (That's about all the Spanish I know... :))_

_**frodofreak88** - Here's more:)_

_**ApocalypticPyro** - Okie-dokie - how was that for your first appearence? You and Filia will have to decide who'll stay at whose place, or you could just let me draw the straws... in which case I promise I'll be totally impartial (wink). More to come!_


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